Knotso and I got together yet again for a bit of a ride down to the Oregon Dunes to meet up with his off-road group.
We get out Friday and hook up on the side of the freeway at a truck stop about 3pm and then head South. We have a bit of traffic getting out of Washington's city areas then finally it opens up for a bit before we hit Portland. Then we hit heavy Friday afternoon traffic that is just creeping along at a crawl and it takes us much longer to get through the city. We get on the back roads headed to the coast and finally get to open it up again but this time on a windy two lane highway. It's getting dark now and the weather forecast was calling for lows in the high 20's so with each minute passing as the sun is going down we ride faster and harder till we get to the coast. We gas up and then still have a bit to go and we finally pull in to Sand Lake about 9pm.
We are now quite frozen and ready to stand by the fire and warm up a bit. Knotso's Off-road group has a roaring fire going so I head that way and enjoy the warmth. We eventually get around to setting up our tents and quickly learn that we aren't prepared for camping in the sand. Our tent stakes just don't hold or aren't long enough. But we manage and get out tents staked out and our matteress' and sleeping bags laid out then join the others by the fire. This is my first time to an ATV/Offroad adventure and I can tell you it's as loud as any motorcycle rally I have attended. Those souped up sand rails and ATV's sure are noisy. You can ride on the dunes till midnight as long as you have lights.
We enjoy the weekend and they eventually lure me out a couple times and I have a blast screaming around the dunes. First time in my life for me. I especially enjoyed the trails through the tree-lines.
Great weekend with plenty of good food cooked up by all and great new friends. The Oregan dunes are especially nice next to the coast line and offered many picture opportunities. I only took a few this trip.
Knowing before hand that it was dropping down to some cold temteratures I had bought a new sleeping pad and down sleeping bag. The pad was one of those self inflating air mattresses that was 3 1/2" thick and that with my new bag made the nights bearable. We enjoyed the couple days we are there with lots of riding and partying.
It's eventually time to head home so we pack up and load up the bikes again as we always do and head up the coast line. This time instead of heading over to Portland and getting on I-5 we head up the coast on Hwy-101. This turns out as expected slow and takes us a long time with all the traffic but we knew that was going to happen. We stop at Oregon's premier Cheese factory Tillamook Cheese's and take the tour and enjoy the samples then buy some stuff to take home to the families.
We hit the road again and get up to the Oregon/Washington border at Astoria and stop for dinner. It's about 6pm by now and the temperature is dropping fast. We still have many hours to go but getting a hot dinner in us is first priority plus we used this opportunity to put on more leathers for the colder weather and it was getting dark. Wind was very strong also.
After our dinner we hit the highway again and head North. Several hours later we are in McLeary, WA stopping for fuel. It's inland as we have left the cold windy coastline and moved inland. We expected the temperature to warm up a bit but we had to cross over a mountain so it only got colder. But we dropped into town and it did finally warm up some (to 40!). We were so cold that we stood at the gas station for a good hour warming up. The bank across the way had a clock/temp sign and it was first flashing 40 degrees when we got there then it dropped to 39 then 38 so we decided we better get going as we still had another hour and a half to our homes. We split up here and went our separate ways.
As usual I enjoyed my ride with my riding buddy. Side by side, fast and hard!!!!
We both get home at the same time and it's about 34 degrees and we are stiff with cold bodies. But it was a hell of a trip as our adventure always are. Either it's raining or it's windy as hell or it's friggin cold. Throw in some snow and hail and you have the Pacific Northwest.
Here are a few pics: (got to keep up with Ken!!!
)
We get out Friday and hook up on the side of the freeway at a truck stop about 3pm and then head South. We have a bit of traffic getting out of Washington's city areas then finally it opens up for a bit before we hit Portland. Then we hit heavy Friday afternoon traffic that is just creeping along at a crawl and it takes us much longer to get through the city. We get on the back roads headed to the coast and finally get to open it up again but this time on a windy two lane highway. It's getting dark now and the weather forecast was calling for lows in the high 20's so with each minute passing as the sun is going down we ride faster and harder till we get to the coast. We gas up and then still have a bit to go and we finally pull in to Sand Lake about 9pm.
We are now quite frozen and ready to stand by the fire and warm up a bit. Knotso's Off-road group has a roaring fire going so I head that way and enjoy the warmth. We eventually get around to setting up our tents and quickly learn that we aren't prepared for camping in the sand. Our tent stakes just don't hold or aren't long enough. But we manage and get out tents staked out and our matteress' and sleeping bags laid out then join the others by the fire. This is my first time to an ATV/Offroad adventure and I can tell you it's as loud as any motorcycle rally I have attended. Those souped up sand rails and ATV's sure are noisy. You can ride on the dunes till midnight as long as you have lights.
We enjoy the weekend and they eventually lure me out a couple times and I have a blast screaming around the dunes. First time in my life for me. I especially enjoyed the trails through the tree-lines.
Great weekend with plenty of good food cooked up by all and great new friends. The Oregan dunes are especially nice next to the coast line and offered many picture opportunities. I only took a few this trip.
Knowing before hand that it was dropping down to some cold temteratures I had bought a new sleeping pad and down sleeping bag. The pad was one of those self inflating air mattresses that was 3 1/2" thick and that with my new bag made the nights bearable. We enjoyed the couple days we are there with lots of riding and partying.
It's eventually time to head home so we pack up and load up the bikes again as we always do and head up the coast line. This time instead of heading over to Portland and getting on I-5 we head up the coast on Hwy-101. This turns out as expected slow and takes us a long time with all the traffic but we knew that was going to happen. We stop at Oregon's premier Cheese factory Tillamook Cheese's and take the tour and enjoy the samples then buy some stuff to take home to the families.
We hit the road again and get up to the Oregon/Washington border at Astoria and stop for dinner. It's about 6pm by now and the temperature is dropping fast. We still have many hours to go but getting a hot dinner in us is first priority plus we used this opportunity to put on more leathers for the colder weather and it was getting dark. Wind was very strong also.
After our dinner we hit the highway again and head North. Several hours later we are in McLeary, WA stopping for fuel. It's inland as we have left the cold windy coastline and moved inland. We expected the temperature to warm up a bit but we had to cross over a mountain so it only got colder. But we dropped into town and it did finally warm up some (to 40!). We were so cold that we stood at the gas station for a good hour warming up. The bank across the way had a clock/temp sign and it was first flashing 40 degrees when we got there then it dropped to 39 then 38 so we decided we better get going as we still had another hour and a half to our homes. We split up here and went our separate ways.
As usual I enjoyed my ride with my riding buddy. Side by side, fast and hard!!!!
We both get home at the same time and it's about 34 degrees and we are stiff with cold bodies. But it was a hell of a trip as our adventure always are. Either it's raining or it's windy as hell or it's friggin cold. Throw in some snow and hail and you have the Pacific Northwest.
Here are a few pics: (got to keep up with Ken!!!
)
Damn the Nature / Sport pic have been awesome this morning. I know you got tons of them.
